Harbin's Winter Wonderland

Last weekend, Scott and I went with some expat friends to the city of Harbin, which is northeast of Beijing. The city, which was originally part of Manchu and then under Russian influence for awhile, boasts an ice festival that's literally unlike anything else: replicas of famous city structures (like Rome's Colosseum and New York's Empire State Building) and giant sculptures made out of ice and snow. Each structure is sponsored by a company (go figure) and has lights inside them to bring this winter wonderland to life.

Ice, ice baby. 

We took an overnight sleeper train to Harbin and packed multiple layers of our warmest clothing; the temperature, when we arrived, was a chilly nine below zero. We played Catch Phrase, drank beers and slept quite well on the train -- well, except for Scott, who accidentally got his head stepped on at 2:30 a.m. by a Chinese woman in the upper bunk trying to get down to go to the bathroom!

Hanging out on the sleeper train.

During the first day we walked around Harbin and played on the frozen Songhua River, which had a slew of activities for kids and adults alike: bumper cars on ice (though most of the Chinese seemed to enjoy driving them more than running into each other), ice sleds made out of what looked like school chairs put on thin metal rails, dog-pulled sleds and a tubing hill.

Russian architecture.

It's never too cold for popsicles!

Hours of fun on ice. 

After an afternoon nap, we bundled up for the ice festival at night, which is the best time to go, with everything lit up. The festival has been going on since 1963 save for a few years during the Cultural Revolution. We spent about 1.5 hours touring the buildings (some of which you could walk through) and slid down ice slides and climbed an ice castle. It was a blast until we couldn't feel our fingers or toes and decided it was time to find a warm dinner spot.

Scott imitating the giant snow duck.

Empire State Building!

Later that night we tried to go to an ice bar at the Shangri-La hotel, where the entire bar and seats are made out of ice. But the hotel told us we missed it by one day; because of the warm temperatures (warm being maybe 10 degrees during the day time), the ice had started to melt and become unsafe, so they had knocked down the whole structure one day before we arrived!

The second day we decided to go to the Siberian Tiger Park, which I had mixed feelings about. While you could never get as close to tigers in the U.S. as we were able to in Harbin, the treatment of them unnerved me. Tigers are supposed to be lean and quick, and all of these tigers were clearly overfeed. We soon found out why: at the park a visitor could pay anywhere from $5 to about $20 to feed these tigers pieces of meat, ranging from what looks like a pork loin strip to an entire live chicken. We saw a live chicken get demolished by the tigers, its bones and feathers flying up into the air like pieces of dust.

Tigers, everywhere. 

But the part that disturbed me the most were the Chinese tourists. They rattled the cages, yelled at the tigers and even spit on them to try to make them growl or howl. You could tell the animals were unhappy, as many of them paced back and forth in cages maybe the size of half of a racquetball court. It's safe to say I won't be going to anymore Chinese animal parks, save for one: the Chengdu panda conservatory, where I hear the pandas are treated like queens.

A beautiful white lion in a small cage. 

One of the best parts of Harbin was finding fresh bread. It's not a staple in most Chinese cities, but has become somewhat of a speciality in Harbin, thanks to the Russian influence. Before we caught our flight back to Beijing, we had an amazing meal that included traditional Harbin bread and sausage, which was absolutely amazing. We toasted to a great weekend and went to the airport, our bellies full, and our hands and toes ready for warmth.